Amber Nicole Thurman’s death from an infection in 2022 is believed to be the first confirmed maternal fatality linked to post-Roe bans.

Reproductive justice advocates have been warning for more than two years that the end of Roe v. Wade would lead to surge in maternal mortality among patients denied abortion care—and that the increase was likely to be greatest among low-income women of color. Now, a new report by ProPublica has uncovered the first such verified death. A 28-year-old medical assistant and Black single mother in Georgia died from a severe infection after a hospital delayed a routine medical procedure that had been outlawed under that state’s six-week abortion ban.

Amber Nicole Thurman’s death, in August 2022, was officially deemed “preventable” by a state committee tasked with reviewing pregnancy-related deaths. Thurman’s case is the first time a preventable abortion-related death has come to public attention since the Supreme Court overturned Roe, ProPublica’s Kavitha Surana reported.

Now, “we actually have the substantiated proof of something we already knew—that abortion bans kill people,” said Mini Timmaraju, president of the abortion-rights group Reproductive Freedom for All, during a call with media. “It cannot go on.”

    • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      It has never been “pro-life” or about saving the lives of “children”. This has always been about controlling women.

      • banshee@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Most aren’t aware, but this is the crux of the issue. Evangelicals do not value equity and presume others are ignorant/incorrect.

      • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        Doubtless you have that. Off the top of my head, you should expect to find:

        1. Those who want to control women.
        2. Those who are uncomfortable with the control aspect but want to get elected.
        3. Pro choice people who want to get elected.
        4. A mix of comfort and discomfort with the ideas of pro choice and controlling women, but still want to get elected.
    • JaggedRobotPubes@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Fascists don’t just lie, they invert the truth precisely.

      Trickle-down economics, for example, was pitched as “a rising tide lifts all boats”, when in reality trickle down economics is the exact opposite of that. A rising tide lifting all boats would be the poorest person getting money until they have as much money as the second poorest person, then those two getting money until they have as much money as the third poorest person, and so on. Lying, reality-inverting fascists got up on a stage–in front of people-- and said that process was the same as giving the people with the most money even more money.

      In a way it’s brilliant, because it’s so brazenly and bafflingly stupid that it acts like an EMP for logical thought. Which they know, and intentionally utilize. The most important skill a fascist has to have is the ability to make people stupid enough to vote for them. What better way than to go for the jugular and assault reality itself?

      With an incessant anti-reality static, courtesy of your fox newses and heritage foundations, reality offers no obstacle at all.

    • Pieisawesome@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Stop using “prolife” as a term.

      It frames their stance positively, call it what it is: “anti-choice”

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        No they are not pro life, and they should never be allowed to use that term or make that claim without protests.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          They are anti-abortion. That is as far as it goes. They don’t care about giving an expecting mother pre-natal care if she can’t afford it. The certainly don’t give a shit about post-natal care. And if there’s something wrong with her baby an they both die? That’s “god’s will.”

          All they care about is making and keeping abortion illegal. It’s that binary of an issue for them and it’s sick.

          • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            It’s so fucking comical to me too that they call it “god’s will” when children die of the most horrifying, excruciating diseases imagnable long before they’re capable of understanding what’s happening, but when a pregnant woman makes an informed decision not to die during childbirth over a shrimp living inside her taco, that’s a bridge too far, and the all-mighty creator and ruler of the universe is very disappointed in you for killing one of his children when he was powerless to stop it.

            Sweetie, maybe your fairytale sugar daddy’s will isn’t all that benevolent. 💀

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              You would think that an omnipotent being could just prevent any abortion from happening if he didn’t want them to happen.

              • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                No, no, you see it’s free will. Which makes total sense, because god can’t possibly foresee what we’re going to do, which is a problem omniscient beings definitely struggle with. Or if he can foresee what we’re going to do and he is omniscient, then he’s not omnibenevolent because he had exact foreknowledge of what was going to happen and let it anyway. After all, why “test” if you already know the precise outcome if not to watch people suffer for fun? If you need people to learn lessons, why can’t you just magically teach them those lessons? And if you’re not capable of this, how are you omnipotent?

                Pick at most two of the three; you can’t have all of them.

                • catloaf@lemm.ee
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                  2 months ago

                  I don’t think everyone ever claimed the Abrahamic god to be benevolent.

      • puppy@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Seeing that they oppose school lunches, gun control and free healthcare, not your children’s lives either.

  • TheHarpyEagle@pawb.social
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    2 months ago

    A lot of pro-birth people argue “obviously things are different if the mother’s life is in danger”, but that ignores that there’s often nothing obvious or definite about the line between “safe” and dangerous. Doctors are erring on the side of caution to avoid potential lawsuits and even jail time, and this is the result. People bleeding out in parking lots, suffering irreversible damage to their body, and people dying.

    • ramirezmike@programming.dev
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      2 months ago

      I’ve seen pro-life folks argue that but they frame it like… “the law is fine and it’s a failure of the doctors not being willing to understand the law which led to deaths” and they’ll also follow that up by saying that even if women die, they’re saving more lives by preventing abortions so it’s a net positive.

      I find it difficult to argue against that perspective. That is, I disagree with them but also it’s hard to argue when they frame abortions as basically murder.

      • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I think its easier to argue on premises. Why is abortion murder? The bible says life begins at first breath, etc…

        • Zombiepirate@lemmy.world
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          The bible also gives a magic abortion potion recipe that only works if the woman cheated, so it’s pretty rich to say that God disapproves.

          The Test for an Unfaithful Wife (Numbers 5)

          11 Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him 13 so that another man has sexual relations with her, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), 14 and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure—or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure— 15 then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah[c] of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour olive oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder-offering to draw attention to wrongdoing.

          16 “‘The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord. 17 Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. 18 After the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder-offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. 20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”— 21 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the Lord cause you to become a curse[d] among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. 22 May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.”

          “‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.”

          23 “‘The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. 24 He shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering will enter her. 25 The priest is to take from her hands the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the Lord and bring it to the altar. 26 The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial[e] offering and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water. 27 If she has made herself impure and been unfaithful to her husband, this will be the result: When she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse. 28 If, however, the woman has not made herself impure, but is clean, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children.

      • kofe@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Which is why we’re also seeing entire maternity wards shut down. Doctors can’t provide care without risking being jailed or being sued for malpractice, so they just won’t practice at all.

  • LunchMoneyThief@links.hackliberty.org
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    Your body, their choice.

    Just look at what pharma had gotten away with over the last four years. “Undergo this medical procedure or kiss your civil liberties goodbye!”

    • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)@badatbeing.social
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      Actually it’s the anti-abortion movement rooted in racism. From the article you linked …

      Just like slavery, anti-abortion efforts are rooted in white supremacy, the exploitation of Black women, and placing women’s bodies in service to men. Just like slavery, maximizing wealth and consolidating power motivated the anti-abortion enterprise.

    • Samvega@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 months ago

      You said: Never forget abortion is rooted in racism!

      The link you gave has a subtitle of:

      Today’s attacks on abortion access have a long history rooted in white supremacy.

      The attacks on abortion are rooted in racism.